Smoke & Felt Leads CAPSA’s Recovery Day Ottawa Livestream to National Success
(OTTAWA, ONTARIO) – The Community Addictions Peer Support Association (CAPSA) has made history with the successful launch of its first-ever multi-channel livestream of Recovery Day Ottawa.
After months of careful planning to deliver the event safely amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the event kicked off at 3 p.m. on Friday, September 25, 2020. In partnership with Smoke & Felt, who handled the messaging and marketing of the event along with the livestream itself, Recovery Day Ottawa earned hundreds of thousands of online social interactions across Canada, with thousands engaging with Recovery Day across a multitude of digital channels.
“It was absolutely essential that we find a way to ensure Recovery Day Ottawa could still go ahead this year despite ongoing health concerns,” said Matt Dusenbury, Smoke & Felt’s founder. “As CAPSA’s signature annual event, I’m proud S&F was able to help the organization deliver an invaluable program in a new and innovative way.”
Recovery Day Ottawa is typically held in-person every September, engaging thousands of supporters, speakers, community partners, and volunteers from all over Ottawa for a day of celebrating the many pathways to increased wellness in the community. When COVID-19 made this year’s gathering impossible, CAPSA and S&F announced the switch to an all-digital event.
The result was an expansive new take on Recovery Day Ottawa. Broadcasting live from CAPSA’s offices, Recovery Day Ottawa welcomed more than 30 different speakers and community partners, including Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Dr. Vera Etches of Ottawa Public Health, and the President of Carleton University, Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon. They, along with many others, shared words of encouragement, personal stories, and supportive messages to foster hope and continue to build a platform for dialogue on increased resources for new and existing services in the community.
“This year’s Recovery Day Ottawa may have been in a different format from years passed, but it was just as powerful and meaningful to everyone,” said Gord Garner, the Executive Director of CAPSA who also acted as the host of the RDO livestream.
“With the help of S&F, we were able to not only put on a great program that reached our local community, but we were able to push it even further, stretching ocean-to-ocean, from Victoria, B.C. to Halifax, N.S.”
Lasting five hours in total, the event was simulcast across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, and YouTube, weaving together a national audience to promote wellness, engage the community, and reduce the barriers of stigma and discrimination for those with substance use disorder.
The livestream also featured a number of musical performances from Canadian artists, including Twin Flames in Ottawa, and Pillow Fite, Wayne Bedecki, Raw B, and JOFO in Halifax.
“RDO 2020 was not only a big event for the year, but it was a big event for CAPSA. It gave us the opportunity to increase the organization’s reach, pushing its advocacy for greater wellness to an expanding national audience,” said Dusenbury.
“I’m excited for CAPSA and S&F to continue to use these new tools to further its message of hope for those who still suffer and change for Canada as a whole.”
If you or your organization is interested in partnering with Smoke & Felt for your marketing, advertising, or communications needs, please get in touch.
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About Smoke & Felt
Smoke & Felt is a full service marketing agency that stands at the intersection of technology and progressive politics. Founded by Matt Dusenbury after more than a decade delivering innovative solutions to complex marketing and communications challenges, the company began with a focus on creating digital books and other media for progressive Canadian clients and publishers. In 2013, this work won a Canadian Digital Publishing Award. Since 2017, Smoke & Felt has expanded to offer a full range of products and services, working with labour unions, think-tanks, political candidates, and Canadian Members of Parliament, as well as many other companies, clients, and charitable organizations. The company is based in Toronto, Ontario and works with a national clientele. Through media and storytelling, we use our expertise to help progressive companies, campaigns, and causes grow their audiences, reach their ideals and elevate their messages into movements.
